The seagulls indulging at the Jefferson Parish Landfill might soon have to go next door to find good garbage.

The Jefferson Parish Council gave Parish President Aaron Broussard permission Wednesday to negotiate a deal with River Birch Inc., which owns a Waggaman landfill adjacent to the public dump. If talks are successful, all refuse from Jefferson's unincorporated areas and Jean Lafitte would go to River Birch's site, Jefferson's landfill would lock its gates for the next 25 years and the parish could save almost $60 million.

"If the contract negotiation proves to be true, " council Chairman Tom Capella said, "and we can save our airspace and dump significantly less garbage and save a significant amount of assets, we'd be willing to look at that."

River Birch made its play for the deal through an almost off-hand request from the Broussard administration for a contractor to dispose of natural debris, or "woody" waste. Chief Administrative Officer Tim Whitmer has said the request, which made room for plans to dump everything from household garbage to sewage sludge, was written to entice creative proposals.

One response came from Concrete Busters of Louisiana, which offered to dispose of only woody waste. The only other response came from River Birch, which proposed taking almost all forms of waste.

An evaluation committee gave River Birch's offer a better grade, parish officials said. The administration has not released the committee's report.

The council on Wednesday hired Michael Peytavin, a lawyer specializing in commercial, environmental and construction issues, to negotiate with River Birch. Peytavin's law firm, Gaudry, Ranson, Higgins & Gremillion, negotiated Jefferson's current deal with Waste Management 12 years ago to operate the parish-owned dump, Whitmer said.

River Birch is partially owned by Fred Heebe, whose wife, Jennifer Sneed, resigned from the council last year. At the time, Sneed said she wanted to spend more time with her family, which is moving from Metairie into New Orleans.

Heebe said his company's next step is to "confirm the numbers and verify the savings, and just see how large the savings are because I think they are going to be enormous."

River Birch's proposal states the parish can save, through lower tipping fees, $1.6 million in the first year and $59.7 million in 25 years. And by closing its own landfill, Jefferson would keep $182 million worth of space for future dumping and could shelve an $11 million expansion plan, said Dominick Fazzio, River Birch's financial officer, last week.

In return, River Birch is asking for tipping fees averaging $19.22 per ton or cubic yard, depending on what is being dumped. Waste Management currently charges $20.10. The parish also pays administrative costs to maintain its own dump.

Capella said the council and the public would be afforded time to scrutinize the deal, especially if it's going to be in place for the next quarter century.

"Before anything is ratified we'll have all our questions answered, " he said.

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Richard Rainey can be reached at rrainey@timespicayune.com or 504.883.7052.